Coronavirus outbreak: FO suspends walk-in consular services till April 3

Coronavirus outbreak: FO suspends walk-in consular services till April 3

Islamabad (Web Desk): The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday announced to suspend all walk-in consular services except the attestation of power of attorney from March 18 till April 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

According to FO spokesperson Aisha Farooqui, the decision has been taken to deal with the rising threat of Covid-19.

“However, the facility of the attestation of documents would be continued through courier companies i.e., Pakistan Post, Gerry’s, Leopard and TCS,” the spokesperson said.

Aisha Farooqui said that the foreign ministry has established a special cell for coordination on coronavirus to liaise with diplomatic corps in Pakistan and Pakistani missions abroad.

This is pertinent to mention that the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus rose to 212 in Pakistan after eight more cases were reported in Punjab.

Most of the cases were reported from Sindh, with the tally rising to 172 in the province on Tuesday.

Globally, 158 countries have been affected, more than 6,500 people have died and more than 170,000 infected by the disease called 'COVID-19' as it spreads rapidly to new territories.

The epicentre of the outbreak has now shifted to Europe, which is recording a rapid rise in new cases every day.